The Story of Chemistry. By Harold W. Picton, B.Sc. (W.
Libister.)—Sir Henry Roscoe recommends this "story of chemistry" as told "brightly and truly, and in a way to interest those who have some knowledge of our science, as well as those who wish to gain that knowledge." A critic is glad to find his work done for him so satisfactorily, and cannot do better than sub- scribe to an opinion given by such excellent authority. Mr. Pictoir begins with the Alchemists, whom he credits with valuable dis- coveries made while they were pursuing investigations in them- selves valueless, and proceeds to sketch the progress of the science down to the latest times. He intersperses his narrative with bio- graphical details, and does his work well but for a certain lack a humour, as when he remarks of Dalton's reason for not marrying that "he never had time," "The truth of this statement may be doubted." The book is illustrated with diagrams of apparatus and some portraits. A more sufficient index would have been a considerable improvement.
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